1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to systems for concurrently monitoring patient temperature and heartbeat rate.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Various devices have been provided for monitoring temperatures of patients in a hospital using telemetry systems. Prior systems of this type are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,621, U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,933 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,862. While prior devices of the type described in the foregoing patents are quite adequate for providing the temperatures of patients in a hospital, it is frequently desireable for the heartbeat rate as well as the temperature of a patient to be monitored. Heretofore, the conventional practice has been for a nurse making rounds to check the pulse rates of patients in a hospital. This is typically performed manually by a registered nurse who stops at the bedside of each patient and holds the patient's wrist to measure the patient's heartbeat rate by taking the patient's pulse rate with a watch. Frequently it is necessary to disturb the patient for this purpose. Also, the task cannot be delegated to less qualified personnel, since the process of manually taking a pulse rate is somewhat subjective and requires accurate judgment. Moreover, since there is a subjective aspect to timing of a pulse rate, nurses must measure the patient's pulse rates for a statistically significant perod of time. Typically, a nurse will manually monitor a patient's pulse rate for sixty seconds. The time required for monitoring is therefore a very significant factor in limiting the number of patients whose pulses can be taken by one nurse making rounds.
Devices do exist for electronically monitoring the heartbeat rates of patients. However, conventional devices for performing this function have been quite complex and normally involve a visual display on the screen of a CRT. Because of the high equipment cost, the use of conventional patient heartbeat rate monitoring devices is normally limited to those patients who are under intensive care. The high cost of purchasing and operating such sophisticated devices is reflected in the high daily charges incurred by a patient in intensive care.